My Life
by NixFi
Summary: Magica has returned but wants to join the good side, Lena doesn't believe in Magica's suddenly altered allegiance. However the others don't seem to believe her. A bit of a fluff story with some darker tones based on the ideas in MonkeyLi's' story "Dimeshipping - My life is worthless without you" but in a very different direction. Also I updated the name to be slightly less bad.
1. Chapter 1

a/n: I was reading MonkeyLi's' story Dimeshipping - My life is worthless without you about Magica joining the McDuck family, and I kept wondering how the events would go if Lena was considerably less accepting of her aunt's entry into her life. So I wrote this, and I have no idea where it was meant to go, but it certainly went somewhere.

Despite the fact that it was feeling as if her whole world was collapsing around her, getting access to the apartment complex had been incredibly easy for Lena with the aid of her recently expanded shadow magic abilities.

Did you know that shadow magic could easily fool movement sensors for automatic doors? Up until five minutes ago, neither did Lena.

Admittedly she did get slightly stumped when she realized she didn't have a way to enable the elevator, but that was easily remedied by fourteen exhausting flights of steps and an easily picked lock. Soon enough, Lena found herself finally standing before her only chance at salvation, Violet's home. She didn't know where else to go, and that fact alone scared her. Ever since her impossible return, life had slowly been shifting into a wonderfully predictable fog of ease. Of course, Lena should have known that such a wonderful existence was a temporary measure at best and naturally her life regressed until everything was once again wrong.

"Please be home, Vi," Lena muttered as she knocked on the door again, hoping that her friend was okay with Lena bringing this mess to her doorstep. Violet had been happy to have Lena over in the past when she needed somewhere to relax, or when Violet wanted a chance to explore Lena's magical abilities, but this instance was far from a normal event. She wasn't here for a social call, she was here because she had nowhere else that she could go. It was a horribly sobering thought to know that all it took was one action and she would lose the support of nearly everyone in her life. One sentence and suddenly she was the problem in their lives, and now all she had was Violet.

After an agonizing wait that felt like an hour to Lena, but was probably closer to a mere minute, Violet's front door finally opened to reveal the one that Lena most wanted to see. Lena knew that she had to play this cool, things had gotten tense at the McDuck manor, but so long as Violet didn't think to question why Lena was here then everything would be okay. Naturally, this meant leaving against the door frame in her best casual pose and giving a non-committal "Sup" to her friend's questioning look. Thankfully Violet seemed to buy it, inviting Lena inside and soon the two were sitting in the small apartment's kitchen eating unhealthy snacks. Of course the peace was not too last and soon Lena broke the silence in the hopes of getting her mind onto a better pattern of thought.

"My folks say that I should always provide food when entertaining guests," Violet explained while giving her a rather odd look of a strange combination of confusion and concern as she placed a tray of food before Lena, grabbing a chip for herself and sitting beside her friend.

"So, where are you, parents?" Lena couldn't help asking, only now finally noticing the clear absence of Violet's family. Her parents had been two incredibly supporting individuals when she had stayed here for over a fortnight without a single complaint from either of them, even going so far to pull her aside individually and ask her about what foods she liked for dinner. It had been rather nice to have so much attention paid to her, in the McDuck manor she hadn't found the same connection with the others no matter how nice they had been. Not that it mattered anymore.

"Unlike the McDuck family, most adults work for a living and it's a weekday." Violet clarified as she pushed the snack foods back in front of Lena. "Get back to eating, Webby said you skipped breakfast and you need to keep a level of nutrient intake to maintain proper mental facilities."

"You talked to Webby!" Lena blurted out in alarm, grabbing Violet's arm and pulling her closer.

"Hey!" Violet complained, pulling her arm away before continuing. "Webby called me before you came over."

Lena swallowed nervously before snapping her eyes to look up at Violet's. "Please tell me you d-"

"They assumed that you were going to come here," Violet told her, resting a hand on her arm in an attempt to calm the panicking witch. "You don't need to worry about them. Webby and I agreed that if you came here to treat it as a sort of safe space. I promise that Scrooge isn't about to come rushing through that door."

"So she told you everything already?" Lena asked bitterly, was she really about to lose the support of her last friend.

"She told me nothing, just that you had run away and they thought you were heading my way, I told them that if you turned up I would make sure stayed the night." Violet tried to placate her, but Lena was clearly starting to panic at the mere thought of Violet talking to Webby. "You have nothing to worry about. Whatever is happening between you and the others, it's between you and them. If you feel up to telling me, I will listen and help, but if you don't want to we can instead just have a normal sleepover and work out the issue tomorrow. Your choice."

Lena breathed out a sigh of relief as she turned back the surprisingly large collection of chips and cheeses that Violet had placed before them. She was tempted to take Violet's offer of just forgetting this whole mess for a night and pretending that nothing was happening, but she also knew that if she did nothing then she would spend the entire night, unable to sleep. Besides, she needed the support of her last friend in this whole mess and if the others talked to her before she did there was a very real chance that they would take her away as well.

"What exactly did Webby tell you?" Lena asked directly, the plate of food ignored in favor of sorting out the mess that was her life. "Word-for-word if you can. I need to know."

"I told you, Webby told me nothing more than that you had left the manor due to some disagreement and was likely heading here," Violet told her carefully, worried that Lena was in no state for confrontation at this point in time. She pulled out a notepad and began writing down any observation she could, not caring that Lena could clearly see the words as they were recorded. Lena winced as she saw words like 'paranoid' and 'tired' being written about her state, but she couldn't entirely disagree with the impromptu assessment "I promise that she told me nothing and convinced me of even less. If you're feeling up for it, I promise to listen and help you figure this out."

"Okay, I trust you," Lena responded, closing her eyes as she ran over where she could start with the mess that the day had been. "I need your help and I believe that the others have been magically controlled by Magica to deliberately oppose me."

"You know that sounds insane," Violet told her blankly, not even bothering to look up as she continued writing as much as she could. "Of course, if anyone was going to get magically controlled it would be them. So you believe that Magica is behind a behavior shift in the McDucks, correct? Why do you believe that it is Magica and not another rival of Scrooge's?"

"Magica arrived at the manor yesterday and Scrooge willing took her in." Lena spat bitterly, she could feel something welling up inside herself but she shoved it down, now was not the time for it to stop her, she had to get Violet on her side before Magica took her away as well. "I don't know how he so willingly took her in, Magica must have already had her spell working on him. All it took was a few minutes of her and Scrooge talking alone and suddenly she was talking with the other adults there. I tried to spy on them to work out what she was doing to them, but she was too tricky and I never heard anything other than some stupid made-up tale about her magic leaving her and how she was powerless and needed help or some drivel like that."

"Magica has never been powerless," Lena continued, her audience remaining silent but moving closer and resting a comforting hand on Lena's. Violet may not have been a fan of emotive displays, but she knew when to give Lena the attention she needed in the manner she deserved. "I've known her for over a decade and she always has had an angle to pull no matter the circumstance, she also has the upper hand even when losing. I don't know how she convinced them, but suddenly she is in the manor to 'recuperate'"

Lena actually took the time to make air quotes as she spat the last word, her distaste of Magica leaving an awkward tension in the air, however she continued on despite it. "Her staying in the manor is bad enough, I sacrificed myself to save Webby and barely got more than a wave from Scrooge, and yet she can just turn up and be welcomed in as if she is some old friend who didn't try and kill everyone in the family. But she made it worse, she always makes it worse."

Silent fell between them as she struggled to work out how to continue explaining what had happened. "Lena, you don't have to continue." Violet broke the silence as she tactfully ignored that Lena was now leaning against her with her face almost buried in the younger girl's neck. In the past, she had tried to make Lena comfortable showing physical representations of her mental state, but found she had responded better when Violet merely pretended to not notice the desperate hugs or tears. "You can give yourself some time and we can return to this later. I understand enough to help."

"I can't just stop," Lena mumbled, her voice somewhat muffled by Violet's hair that had somehow managed to get caught in her beak, most definitely not because she had been shoving her face into Violet's hair in comfort and anyone who thought so would be getting a personal visit of a magically conjured knuckle sandwich if they mentioned it to anyone. Violet picked up on the unspoken command and merely rolled her eyes and pulled back slightly to let Lena rest against her more comfortably, she was looking more and more tired by the minute as she struggled to keep her eyes open enough to continue the story.

"If she was just staying in the manor it would be annoying, but she isn't there just for some food and a bed," Lena continued, her voice wavering as she pushed herself to continue. "She wants her magic back, and the others think it's a great idea to give her back all of her magic powers. Sure, she said that without them that she would die, but they have to know that the second that she has even a spark of ether she will betray them."

"Would she die without it?" Violet carefully asked, making sure to keep her voice void of emotion to avoid betraying her own thoughts on Magica. Personally, she was not a fan of what she had put Lena through, but the thought of someone's death to be seen as a positive was against her nature. However, exceptions could always be made.

"Probably, does it even matter?" Lena responded bitterly, not even magic an attempt to hide her complete lack of hatred for Magica from her tone. "You haven't even heard the worst part yet. There is only one way for Magica to get back her magic, and that's for her to reabsorb her magical source. You can probably guess what that is."

"You're the source?" Violet asked, her voice disbelieving. "They others agreed to sacrifice you to Magica? I can't believe that they would ever just agree to that, magical manipulation or otherwise. Magical manipulation has its limits. You can't force someone to do something against their very nature and expect them to be compliant, and allowing you to die is not something they would ever allow."

"That's the best part," Lena replied sarcastically with a rather savage bitter undertone eating its way into her voice. "Magica deceived them into thinking that if she dies, then I die as if we're two sides of the same coin. They don't think they are trying to kill me, they think they are trying to save me. Nothing I said could convince them on the truth."

"And now you're here," Violet muttered with a frown. "I'm assuming that the conversation didn't entirely remain civil."

"I may have threatened to banish her to the shadow realm, I thought it was fair," Lena complained, her hands tightening into fists as Magica's face. "They apparently thought that threats of banishment and murder were inappropriate and asked me to wait outside while they let themselves be controlled by Magica. It's my life they are dismissing, you'd think that it would be reasonable to give me some say into whether they killed me, but nope."

"Apparently that's a discussion for adults and not the person they want to sacrifice." Lena angrily complained. Violet had to lean back as a flash of pure magical energy shot from Lena's clenched hand and into their ceiling, leaving a rather large black mark. Lena paid the damage no interest as she gritted her teeth and allowed her temper to overtake her mind. "I already gave my life once for their stupid family and the one time I need them to help me they instead shove me aside for the person who already killed me last time. They don't even have the courtesy to include me in their stupid discussions. Oh, don't include the person we are going to sacrifice. It's not like the stupid non-human shadow's opinion matters, let's just talk to the evil witch because she had flesh and blood. She's real and not a stupid useless magical construct that no one w-"

"Lena!" Violet interrupted, the Magic was beginning to build along Lena's arms forcing Violet to finally intervene before the magical energy was released. "You're safe here, but you have to calm down. Intense emotions can cause uncontrollable magical expulsions. So for both our sakes, you need to stop."

"My only family wants me dead, how do you expect me to be calm!" Lena growled, her magic flickering threateningly as she struggled to hold herself in check. Magic was chained to her mental state far more than Lena desired, and just calming down enough to suppress the urge to release the built-up magical charge was not a simple task.

"I am your family as well, and I don't want you dead," Violet told her bluntly, pushing Lena's hands down and forcing Lena to face her. "I can promise that I will always believe you over Magica, she is a horribly inaccurate source of information while you are a dependable primary source. So I believe you. My parents will as well."

"No one else believes me," Lena muttered bitterly, but the magically stored energy slowly faded as her anger faded into a deeper feeling of disappointment and exhaustion.

"You are far too willing to believe that all of them will trust Magica over you." Violet pointed out quietly, though her voice betrayed none of the concern she felt. "You said it yourself that you believe that there is a strong magical influence over them, and Magica is well known for being a skilled manipulator."

"I know, it's just that..." Lena trailed off as she sighed, returning back to leaning slumped over against Violet. "I can't just pretend that I am okay with almost everyone who cares about me falling for Magica's lies, even with a magical influence. I managed to throw off her control to save them, the least they could do is the same for me."

"It does-" Violet began, before being interrupted by Lena.

"I know it doesn't work like that." Lena cut in. "Magica tricked them and they aren't at fault for any of this, but just because I know something doesn't stop me from feeling betrayed. I know it's not logical, but I can't do what you do. I can't just disregard what I feel and pretend to not believe that I've been betrayed because everyone I ever thought of as family wants to kill me to save an evil idiot." Lena caught herself and gave a weak smile at Violet. "Everyone but you I mean."

"Duly noted," Violet frowned, this wasn't going to be as simple a problem as she had hoped. She had an affinity with understanding magic, but magical manipulation was not a simple topic to explore and she honestly did not even know where to start helping Lena. "I assume you need help working out what to do next. Or do you already have a plan and just wanted somewhere safe to put it into action?"

"Honestly, neither," Lena muttered, propping herself up against the kitchen bench. "I don't have a plan, and I don't want to make a plan. I just want it all to go away. I'm sick of fighting. I'm sick of dealing with Magica. I just want to be as far away from all of it, and here is as far away I can get and still be with someone who cares."

"You're giving up?" Violet asked cautiously.

"I'm tired, Vi," Lena responded, all of the anger having finally left her body and leaving her a shell of the girl who had first entered Violet's home, she was barely managing to keep herself upright as all of the adrenaline abandoned her. "My whole life feels like it's been one problem after another. I just want to be in a family. I don't want to have to spend the rest of my life fighting for a family. Your family cares about you and they always will. Until a month ago, I had no family and now they are already been taken away. I can't keep fighting. I just want it to stop"

"I don't blame you if you no longer want to fight," Violet told her, wrapping an arm around Lena and slowly pulling her to her feet. "How about you rest in my room, for now, I can tell you're tired?"

"I haven't slept since Magica arrived." Lena tiredly mumbled, barely able to keep her balance as she allowed Violet to lead her. She wanted to pull herself out of Violet's grip and sleep on the couch to avoid taking her friend's bed away, but she was too tired to even manage that. Soon enough she was been lowered onto Violet's bed and a cover thrown over her, though Violet didn't bother trying to tuck her in.

"Rest now," Violet told her, sitting over Lena and slowly stroking her hair. "When you awaken I'll have a way to sort out this mess. Trust me."

"Thanks, sis" Lena mumbled before sleep took her.

Violet sighed and pulled herself away from the now sleeping Lena. This was an absolute mess of a situation and thanks to Lena's information she now knew that the McDuck's were compromised, however that didn't mean that she didn't have her own resources the call in. Pulling out her cell phone, Violet called the most commonly dialed number on her phone and only had to wait a single moment before the call was picked up.

"Hi Dad, sorry to call you at the office, but Lena is here and she really needs our help." Violet quickly launched into an explanation, hoping that her parents would know what to do. Scrooge wasn't the only one with a family, and the Sabrewing family wasn't filled with fools.


	2. Chapter 2

An hour later Violet found herself sitting at a small cafe in the city beside her dad, drinking iced chocolate while waiting. "You and father were quick at getting home," Violet told him as she reached the end of her drink, her dad barely halfway through his own having learned the concept of moderation better than Violet. For all her attempts at expelling an air of maturity, Violet was still a child, and her parents were deeply thankful for that fact.

"When you or Lena need help, we'll always be there for you two. Besides my office job can be surprisingly flexible. Your father's job isn't quite so much, but a family emergency is a family emergency." He told her cheerfully. She was surprised to hear him so chipper, he and father had not been anywhere near so happy once Violet had finished explaining what Lena had told her. They already knew about Lena's rather poor history with Magica, so they were not overly surprised to hear that the witch was trying to worm her way back into Lena's life. The revelation about Magica's nefarious plans for Lena was not taken so lightly and a decision was quickly made that the two would ensure to protect the young duck as much as they could. "Did Webbigail say when she would be arriving?"

"Her last text said she was only a few minutes away, so she should be getting here soon," Violet responded, frowning at the text. By her calculations, Webby should have already arrived a minute ago and she was concerned that their plan to get information out of Webby had left them vulnerable to betrayal. Hopefully, her father could protect Lena, having remained in their apartment to look after the sleeping teen. Webby had never been one for subterfuge, despite her clear spy training, preferring to tackle issues head-on, but that didn't mean that she would continue to act that way when under Magica's influence.

"I'm here now!" Webby exclaimed as she swung down from the ceiling and landed perfectly on a stool across from them. "How is Lena going? Is she okay?" Violet opened her mouth to answer, but a nudge from her dad quickly silenced her. He had said that he wanted to handle this, and it was only fair she left him.

"Lena is currently feeling under the weather and is resting. She is not up for guests." Violet's dad told Webby simply, his words giving no room for flexibility. "I may allow you to visit in a few days if she is feeling better."

"Aww, are you sure I can't come over for just a few minutes," Webby asked, giving her best puppy-dog eyes that she could manage. "I promise to be on my best behavior."

"No" Violet's dad answered simply. "Now I need you to tell me your version of events for the last two days as Lena is under the impression that there is something happening that she disagrees with. I need to know what has stressed her out so much that she would come to my home in such a manner."

"There isn't too much to say, really," Webby frowned. "I'm sure that Lena has told you that Magica is back. She is trying to redeem herself as Lena did, so Scrooge and I want Magica and Lena to forgive each other so that they can be a family again. Lena needs a family and we're not really a good family for her with all the monster attacks and disasters."

Violet narrowed her eyes, but a hand on her shoulder made sure that she kept her beak shut, her dad didn't respond to the insinuation that Violet's family wasn't a good family for Lena and instead merely gestured for Webby to continue. "Please continue."

"We tried to tell Lena but she didn't like the idea at all." Webby continued, staring a hole into the table before her rather than look up and Violet or her dad. "I know that forgiving someone isn't easy, but if they don't forgive each other they will never go back to being a family again. Lena deserves to be happy and to do that she needs her family back."

"I am not going to allow Magica to spend time around Lena." Violet's dad told Webby matter-of-fact to make it clear that his position was not one that was up for debate. "I will be bringing Lena into my own family tonight and as an unofficial guardian, I will be making sure that Magica remains away from Lena. She is not a good influence for Lena."

"But they are family!" Webby protested, but there was no debate.

"Irrespective of whether what they had ever even counted, they are not anymore." He replied simply. "And I will ensure that they won't. Magica's treatment is inexcusable and not something that a simple apology will ever erase. Violet, my husband and I will be her family and it is our decision to ensure that the two remain separate. It is that simple."

"Magica will die if she and Lena don't reconnect!" Webby blurted out, covering her beak with a hand as she realized what she had just revealed.

"Then Magica will die." His words were said with a sense of dismissal. "I care for Lena like she is family and I will do anything to protect her. Magica is not my concern. Whatever stupidity she has committed that has led to such an ending is her own doing, and not one that I concern myself with. Lena is family, Magica isn't."

"But Magica said that Lena would die if she dies." Webby pleaded, not caring that their conversation was now reaching the point of being completely inappropriate for a small coffee shop.

"Even you don't believe that," Violet muttered, before wincing at a sharp look from her dad. She had promised to stay silent so he could manage the conversation, but it was difficult to just sit there and listen to Webby parrot back Magica's lies.

"If that is truly the case it will be a decision made by Lena, and Lena alone." Webby winced at the tone of disapproval that sat deep with Violet's dad's words. "If Magica wishes to talk about Lena's well being, she can organize a meeting with myself or my husband, but she isn't to talk to Lena. Do I make myself clear?"

Webby nodded before a thought came to her. "What if she is right and Lena and Magica need to become one again?"

"Then Lena will need to decide and we will support whatever choice she makes." He told her quietly. "I think we've discussed all that we need to. You can head back to the others now."

Silently Webby pulled herself to her feet and left the cafe.

"They are so caught up on what they believe Lena wants they had neglected to consider what she needs," He sighed as he watched Webby's retreating form.

"I am not an expert at magical manipulation, but I could find nothing. All indications are that Webbigail at least believes Magica's story." Violet responded, frowning as she tried to determine what they could do about this mess. They couldn't just tell Lena that most of those she saw as family had believed Magica over her. It didn't matter that they only believed Magica because the probable lie she told was so convincing. Lena would still feel betrayed. "What do we tell Lena?"

"We tell her nothing." Violet's dad responded simply. "She has been through enough as it is. Your father and I will handle this mess for her, if we are to be her parents then we will make this our problem. So we will not need to tell her anything we discovered today, because it's our problem to handle, not hers. It may turn out that Magica isn't lying, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't help keep Lena safe."

By the time they returned to the apartment the debate of whether to tell Lena or not became moot as she was still sleeping in Violet's bed, completely checked out of the real world. So instead Violet was sent in to keep a watch over Lena as her dad and father sat down to work out what their next step was going to be.

She settled down next to Lena's sleeping form, a notepad open as she made notes on what she could now determine to be fact or assumption. Unfortunately, so far the information was not as useful as she and her parents had been hoping. They had determined the Magica was back, that the McDucks had welcomed her into their home, and that they wanted Magica and Lena to make amends. As for the more questionable parts, namely Magica's survival without magical abilities and Lena's position in all of this, were much harder to track down. When it came down to magic, there were wasn't they could do apart from research or trust Magica's assessment of her own magical status. Determine whether Lena would be affected by Magica's end was not going to be easy to work out.

"Can you write any louder?" Violet jumped at the sudden voice from her behind herself, realizing quickly that the dry sarcastic tone was Lena. "Seriously, you've been scratching away at that paper for the last few minutes. I'm guessing the meeting with Webby didn't turn out all that well, right?"

"You are meant to be resting," Violet told her simply, not looking up from her notes as she felt the bed shift beneath her as Lena leaned over her shoulder to spy on her work. "You are also not meant to be concerned about what we are doing."

"I don't like the idea of anyone making decisions without me," Lena grumbled, leaning her head on Violet's shoulder, still clearly tired despite her hours of rest.

"We're not making any decisions here." Violet did her best to placate her, adjusting herself to let Lena lean on her properly. "Dad and father are doing their best to find out as much as they can and make sure that Magica stays away, but they aren't going to just make a choice for you. Dad already said that whatever happens, whether you stay here or live elsewhere, whether you join Magica or not, the choice will be yours alone to make. They are just going to make sure that you know what is going on and ensure that you're not being rushed to a decision."

"Is that why you've turned the page so I can't see what you and Webby talked about?" Lena asked dryly. Sure enough, Violet had made an effort to make sure that the current page of notes focused more on Lena's current magical state rather than anything about Magica's return.

"I didn't want you to worry about it." Violet reminded her, pointedly putting the notepad down and turning to Lena. "I know you don't like being kept in the dark like this, but we both know that this is not a problem that you need to worry about. For now, let my parents and Scrooge argue about who can visit you and how."

"Fine" Lena grumbled though she had to admit to herself that she honestly didn't even know what she wanted out of all of this. She wanted it all to just go away and stop annoying her, but she couldn't just pretend that nothing was happening either. This was her life that they were discussing after all. "I assume Webby is coming over soon, not even your parents can keep her away."

"She's actually been outside the window for the past few minutes trying to work out how to get inside," Violet responded dryly, gesturing to the window where Webby was frowning as she studied the fifteenth-floor apartment's sealed glass window. "Apparently she never thought to check if windows in high rise apartments could open so she can't get inside."

"I can still hear you!" Webby's muffled yell was barely heard through the double glazed glass window, sufficiently disproving her own statement. She tapped on the glass before shrugging her shoulders and pulling herself upward and out of sight.

"I assume she's going to try and get it through the balcony door next," Lena pointed out with a shrug. "Fine, if you want me to not worry about any of this mess, I will stop. Though something tells me that when Webby gets here the conversation is going to be about nothing but Magica."

"Well, then you thought wrong!" Webby exclaimed as she stepped into the room, breathing heavily as if she had just sprinted a great distance, likely vertically. "Did you know that your balcony door was left unlocked?"

"You know that my parents don't want you here," Violet responded sternly, gesturing to the room that Webby had just left. "How did you manage to sneak past them anyway?"

"They were arguing about whether to tell Lena about them planning a meeting with Magica to discuss the situation," Webby responded, shrugging. "So they didn't really notice me."

Violet facepalmed and Lena couldn't help chuckling at the seriousness of the whole thing and Webby's inability to notice. "Well you've managed to break into our room, what is the next step in your plan?" Lena asked, smirking.

"Why do you think that I have a plan?" Webby asked, raising an eyebrow. "I wanted to hang out with my friends, so I came over. Your dad said I couldn't come over and bug you about Magica, but he never said anything about coming over for a sleepover."

"I believe he made no such stipulation and was actually quite specific in his request for you to leave her to rest." Violet pointed out but made no effort to actually uphold her dad's wishes. Lena needed as many friends as she could manage, so long as Webby didn't stray into the one forbidden subject it would be a net benefit for Lena. "However, you're already here so you may as well stay for a bit."

"So long as you don't just use this as an excuse to talk about Magica," Lena told her bitterly. "I've had more than enough of others trying to tell me what I should think and feel towards her. I don't like her, I don't want to ever see her again, and the world would be a better place without it her even if she changed her loyalty."

"Alright, no Magica talk, " Webby raised her hands in mock surrender, though her small stature made it look more like she was a child asking its mother hour help changing a shirt. "What about a game of Scroogopoly?"

"Or we could not play a game that reminds me of Scrooge?" Lena mock complained, but quickly helped Webby and Violet set up the board game regardless. Scrooge actually had a rather deep dislike of the game, he felt it encouraged bad business mindsets in capitalistic societies, whatever that meant. Lena just knew it as one of the few games she was decent at. It was time to school the others in street smarts and prove she was the ultimate haggler.

Unfortunately, it was barely fifteen minutes later the three girls found their game reduced to a mere mockery of itself, Lena's apparent skill at the game betrayed by some incredibly unlucky rolls reducing her attempts at building an epic Lena empire into more a Lena trailer park after a series of difficult tax payouts and hotel landings. Webby wasn't too well either, a single property in her name with an impressive lien placed upon it, however, the strangest part was that even Violet was in financial strife. Lena grew tired of the absolute mess of a game and threw down her meager card pile, calling the game quits.

"Okay let's vow to never play this again." She complained, doing her best to submerge the impulse to engulf the game in the purifying properties of an open flame to ensure it never darkened another sleepover.

"Seconded," Webby called, throwing her cards in as well, frustration thick in the air. "Something I wonder if the people behind these games hate their own families and want to see everyone reduced to infighting so they will all be on their own level."

"I concur," Violet agreed, placing the cards down carefully and pushing the board away. "That is one of the more unpleasant board games ever created."

"It certainly earned the name bored game," Lena muttered. Honestly, they had barely added more than one bonus house rule to try and make the game better, but if anything it just better showed how absolutely abhorrent the whole game really was. "Okay, it's not even dinner and I'm bored. Webby, Violet, find something for us to do. At this point, I think I'd nearly prefer to talk about Magica than play another board game."

"If I pull out Risk, would that 'nearly' turn into a 'definitely'?" Webby asked innocently, not even bothering to properly hide the named board game behind her back, a mischievous grin plastered across her face. Lena was undoubtedly correct in her assessment that Webby didn't comprehend the concept of subtlety. Clearly Webby wanted to discuss what Lena so sorely wanted to ignore.

"Just for a night, can we not talk about her?" Lena groaned, leaning back on Violet's bed so she wouldn't need to look Webby in the eye. She knew that Webby's spy training made her annoying good and getting Lena to relent on things that she didn't want to do, but tonight she just was not up for it. "Just one night where we don't mention her name, is that really too much to ask? I don't want to talk about Magica and whether my continued existence is in question."

"But what if she's right?" Webby asked pleadingly, though her most innocent stare of apparent mind control was easily beaten by Lena not bothering to even glance in her direction. Really, what even was the point of being stupidly adorable if you couldn't use it to suitably manipulate your friends? "We can't just pretend that everything is fine."

"Yes, we can!" Lena exclaimed, thoroughly exasperated by this incessantly irritating conversation once again returning. "I've spent my whole stupid semi-existence wrapped around Magica, can't I have just one stupid night where I can pretend I am not some barely existing shadow creature? How about you be a good friend and you let me pretend to actually matter for once? Either that or you can just go away and stop pretending to be nice."

"I just want to help you." Webby protested.

"I don't care!" Lena yelled angrily, pulling herself to her feet and standing over Webby. "Do I care if Magica is going to die? No, I don't. Do I care that if she dies I might die? To be honest, not really. Whatever this stupidly frustrating existence is, I don't even know why I keep trying. Is that what you want to hear? Your friend is so sick of hearing Magical this and Magica that, that she doesn't even want to care about something that could her. So for once in your life would you actually listen to me and let me have this one stupid night where I can pretend to not be a barely sentient shadow. One night when I can go for five stupid minutes without being reminded that I barely exist. One night when I can pretend that I am normal. One night when I can pretend that I am alive."

There was a long silence as Webby and Violet stared at her, Violet with the barest of a hint of a frown on her face. Webby looked as if she had just watched someone kick a puppy, and honestly, Lena could relate to that metaphorical puppy. "Just let me pretend," Lena mumbled as she settled back onto Violet's bed, exhaustion beginning to overcome her.

"I thought I told you to leave Lena alone?" A voice grumbled in irritation as the bedroom creaked open, Violet's father's disapproving face visible. He stepped into the room and looked at Lena with concern "Are you okay, Lena?"

"I'm fine," Lena huffed out, waving him out of the room. "I let Webby in. Sorry, I should've checked with you two."

"That's okay Lena," Violet's father told her gently, stepping back out of the room. "Just remember that this isn't an issue you need to worry about. We'll work something out."

"Thanks," Lena mumbled, dropping her eyes away from the door as she heard it close behind him. "I'm going to have a rest, could you two do something." She collapsed back on the bed, feeling almost dead to the world. However, rather than hearing Webby and Violet go back to talking without her, she instead felt Webby and Violet clamber onto the bed beside her and busy themselves pulling her under the covers. She felt herself drift off as Violet rubbed her back and Webby whispered something nice that her sleepy mind wasn't able to properly process.

Webby sighed as she saw Lena finally drift into a proper sleep. "I was meant to say that Magica wanted a meeting with her tomorrow, but I don't want to wake her."

"I don't think it would be a good idea for Lena to meet Magica" Violet pointed out, pulling herself to the edge of the bed and pulling out a notepad to run through their available options. "My parents are probably not going to be overly happy to meet her either, Lena's been very clear how low her opinion is of Magica. So we really only have one option?"

"If I cancel it then aren't we just postponing the inevitable?" Webby asked with a frown. She really didn't want to force Lena to confront Magica, but she also knew that they were family and they couldn't just ignore each other for all of their lives.

"Cancelling isn't an option," Violet turned and fixed Webby with a smile. "I think it's time I talked to her and found out what is going on."

"She might not want to meet with you," Webby pointed out, scratching the back of her neck nervously.

"Then we just won't tell her" Violet responded smugly. "Also I probably shouldn't tell my parents."


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Violet found herself once again sitting at the small cafe that was situated a few blocks away from her home. This time, however, she wasn't there with her either of her parents, and even Webby wasn't here yet, leaving her with nothing to do except slowly sip her hot chocolate and run through the admittedly simplistic plan in her mind.

To be fair to both Lena and her parents, it was an incredibly stupid idea for her to meet up with a known evil entity, and Magica certainly classified as one. However, she also knew that if Magica was going through all the effort to convince Scrooge and Webby that she was changing sides, then it was incredibly unlikely that she would throw away all of her progress to harm Violet. As far as she was concerned there were really only two reasons for Magica's actions, either she truly had a change of heart due to some external influence, or she was playing a long con that would require her to pretend to be good until she gets her hands on Lena. In both instances, Violet knew she was not in any real danger.

Of course, Lena had told her time and time again that Magica was also an idiot who continually failed to stick to her own plans due to her inability to temper her emotions. So there was a real possibility that, if Magica had some sort of deceptive plan, she could stupidly ruin her own plan and try and do something to Violet. This realization slightly reduced the options available to Violet. Originally her plan had been to simply tell Magica that she was barred from meeting Lena until she had proven both her own mortality and the effect the end of her life would have on Lena. However, such a plan would likely greatly annoy the witch prone to emotional outbursts, so Violet was going to need to play her cards carefully.

A loud crack echoed through the room as a sudden burst of smoke shot around Violet before quickly dissipating to reveal the dramatic figure of Magica who was clearly trying to avoid coughing.

"Okay, so that batch is probably past its sell-by date," Magica remarked as she unceremoniously sat down in front and Violet with a look of irritation as she saw just the single girl before her. "You're one of Lena's minions aren't you, tell me where is she?"

"She's not here," Violet told her, deeply unimpressed by the pointless dramatics of the witch. "I didn't even tell her that you would be here."

"Who do you think you are to keep me from what is rightfully mine?" Magica scowled, her fists tightening in clear irritation.

"Unlike some, I am someone who cares about her wellbeing." Violet cut back, wincing as she realized her plan to avoid emotive outbursts from Magica was already falling and the first annoying hurdle. "She wants to feel normal so my family is sorting it out for her."

"Whatever," Magica dismissed with a wave of her arm as if it wasn't important to her, and judging by her poorly obscured disdain it probably wasn't fat from the truth. "If I have to use you as a proxy to talk to her, then so be it. Tell her that I will be waiting for her to stop sulking and return to the manor so we can begin the transfer."

"I'm not going to do that" Violet responded simply, taking a moment to take a sip of her hot chocolate. This Cafe really did know how to make a properly yummy drink without making it garishly sugary. "I'm here to negotiate, not just blindly repeat everything you say. If you want Lena to do this, you need to prove to me that no harm will come to her."

"Lena will die if this doesn't happen," Magica responded smugly. "You don't want the blood of your best friend's friend on your hands. We both know that Webbigail will never forgive you if you let Lena die when all you had to do was have one little talk. Just one little Itty bitty talk and Lena will get to live on and Webby will keep on being your only friend. I'm not even doing this for myself, this is for you, Miss Saberwing. I'm here to help you and Lena get past this small bit of misfortune."

"Do you honestly expect me to believe you?" Violet asked, genuinely interested if such incredibly sloppy manipulation was a conscious choice by Magica or if Lena was correct that she was a bit of a moron. "Almost nothing you just said to me actually answered my concern. I need to know what you want Lena to do and whether it will bring harm to her. I am aware of her allegedly fatal condition, I want to hear the alternative options available to us so we can make a properly informed choice."

"If the alternative option is death, does it really even matter what I am offering," Magica complained, rolling her eyes at the impudence of the youngling before her. "You act as if Lena spending time with me is somehow a fate worse than death."

"Honestly? It's debatable." Violet shrugged as she responded, a small part of her surprised that Magica had enough self-awareness to wince at the clear insult. "Either way, I need to know exactly what it is your proposing before I even consider irritating Lena with your lack of information. I need a clear explanation of the problem and what solution you have proposed or this conversation is going to go absolutely nowhere."

"Okay, I'll explain" Magica sighed as she grabbed Violets drink away from her, ignoring Violet's irritated frown, and pulled over a small dish that had previously contained Violet's cake. "Picture this drink as the magical energy contained within the pendant embedded in Lena. Now she can only expel so much energy and currently, I am the conduit she uses to expel. If I were to disappear then-"

"If you're about to demonstrate magical transfer by pouring my hot chocolate on the table, then I would kindly ask you to stop." Violet gave her a withering glare. Did Magica have to treat her like a bumbling fool." I am well informed on the properties of a mana field and it's intrinsic properties. Lena has been a fantastic case study to contrast with Webby's documentation. So I would appreciate if you stopped with the metaphors and just told me exactly what the issue is. Otherwise, I will be forced to conclude that you have absolutely no information and Lena need not ever talk to you."

" Fine!" Magica shoved the drink back into her hands and reached into her pocket and pulled out a small book that was positively reeking of dark magical essence. It was so clearly a cursed item that even Violet could feel the unnatural energy on sight alone. Magica flipped it to a page and tossed the book in front of Violet. "That should hopefully be enough for you. Webby told me you were a stickler for sources, so there you go a primary documented source of the magical construct that makes up Lena and what will certainly happen to her if we don't go with my plan."

"I notice that you still haven't told me what your plan is," Violet observed as she slowly read through the information before her. "I should point out that you are already a primary source, a documented reference is a secondary source at best. I was hoping for a contrasting primary or secondary source to help cross-analyze your claims. This is an interesting book, however, your name is on the cover."

"I am literally the only witch in existence who has created life from Shadows. I am your source of information." Magica growled, grabbing the book back from Violet. "I am trying to avoid telling you about your only option to save your friend because it's not one that any of you want to accept. Of course, little miss science is so driven by logic and reasoning that I may as well tell you, is that right?"

"Yes," Violet responded, nodding her head. She could feel a headache coming along as she realized that Webby's insane logic jumps had nothing on Magica's inability to get to the point without incessantly trying to miss the demanded point. "Please tell me. We deserve to know what choice we are actually making."

"You're not going to like it," Magica shrugged, seemingly disinterested in her own statement. "Lena is my creation, and while she is some of my finer work if I do say so myself, her creation was far from optimal. I was under something of a time crunch before I lost all of my magical abilities, so I may have cut a few corners. In fact, I cut so many corners that Lena's probably more of a circle than a square in a lot of respects. I didn't really intend for her to be stranded in the body and mind of a teenager, I just wasn't able to accelerate her creation beyond that point."

"What has this got to-" Violet started before Magica cut her off.

"You said you wanted to hear everything, and I am giving it to you," Magica replied as if chastising a small child, an accurate reflection of reality in some respects. "Lena is not fully formed, she is a rushed magical creation that is currently holding its shape purely due to my amazing work. Normally this wouldn't bother me, her magic would just fade and her life along with it. However, that isn't what is going to happen this time. She has my magic, all of it. So now what was my life force is stretched between two with neither of us truly about to exist without the other, because we are effectively the same entity as far as reality is concerned."

"Wouldn't that mean that if Lena was to die, so would you?" Violet asked cautiously, wondering how much of Magica's words were true. "And the same for the inverse?"

"Correct," Magica smiled, and Violet knew she was probably going to have a few nightmares after witnessing such a horrifying sight. It was kind of depression to realize that Magica most likely meant the smile as a comforting gesture and not the nightmare fuel it represented. "I am dependent on her continued existence, however, every day that link becomes weaker. At some point, the link will fail and both of us will cease to be, and then I will be gone and you'll have betrayed Webby's trust in you by allowing Lena to die. So you see we really only have one actual choice."

"You realize you still have not actually told me what you want to do with Lena," Violet told her dryly, irritated the Magica had yet again dodged such a basic question. "Are you ever going to tell me?"

"Honestly, no." Magica rolled her eyes, clearly wishing for the pointless conversation to end. "It's something for only Lena and myself to discuss as it involves some rather complicated shadow magics that only myself and she will really understand. So you need not worry yourself with what we need to do to allow continued existence. You just need to get myself and Lena in a room where we can discuss the situation as adults, and then do what needs to be done. Is organizing one simple conversation really such a difficult thing for you to allow?"

"Until you tell me what choice needs to be made, I have no choice but to not let you near her," Violet responded, picking up her hot chocolate to take a few sips to steady her nerves. Magica was rather worrisome when irritated. "Just tell me what I need to know so we can stop playing these pointless games."

"I have told you everything you need to know," Magica told her dismissively. "You don't need to know what I have planned for Lena. All you need to know is that if I don't talk to her and convince her to do what needs to be done, neither Lena not myself will exist. This isn't some silly little logic puzzle for you to solve. This is emotion-driven shadow magic. Now either get me Lena or I will go to your parents and make sure that I get Lena. I'll even tell them that you met me here on your own. We both know that they would ground you for a year if they found out."

"Are you seriously threatening me with being grounded while we discuss the life of my friend?" Violet was rather taken aback by the complete absence of tact on display by Magica. "You do what you must. I am not letting you and Lena meet."

With those fateful words, Violet dropped a few dollars on the table to pay for her drink and left in a huff. This had been an absolute waste of time and all she had found out was the Magica was completely inept at answering basic questions without falling into a tangent and ranting.

Violet's parents were not impressed by her actions that day, however, they quickly backed down on actually enforcing any punishment as they knew all too well how difficult it was for her to simply sit on the sidelines while they discussed her friend's future. Unfortunately, Violet's actions had resulted in a rather unseen result, one that both Lena and Violet would have greatly preferred not happened at all.

At first, everything seemed completely fine, Violet came home to a few awkward conversations with her parents and then went to hang out with Lena to watch a few silly horror movies off her tablet. Lena enjoyed the more macabre of contents and often took some level of perverse entertainment in watching content that most would identify as truly horrifying. Violet, on the other hand, enjoyed investigating the interesting emotive responses that said content triggered. So, for the most part, it worked out quite well. However, two slasher horror movies later their movie marathon was interrupted by a sharp knocking on their shared bedroom door. Groaning, Lena paused the movie and shot Violet a look or irritation, but Violet didn't mind the interruption too much, there were only so many bad movies she could withstand. Violet quickly pulled herself to her feet and opened the door wide, ignoring the glare from Lena.

"Hi father," Violet bowed slightly to her father as she let him into the room. Raising an eye as he plastered a fake smile on his face and slipped into the room, closing the door behind him.

"It's good to see you two enjoying yourselves," He began, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Lena knew that this was not going to bode well, the fact that he sat down between them and tried to rest a comforting hand on Lena's shoulder solidified her opinion into fact. "Scrooge contacted us an hour ago and had a proposal for us that we couldn't ignore. I know that neither of you wants to talk to her, but it was the only way I could convince them to stop."

"You invited Magica here?" Lena asked incredulously. "What could have possibly convinced you to do something so stupid? She's a dangerous idiot that I want to stay as far away from me as possible."

"I agree, it doesn't seem like a logically sound plan to me," Violet added as she watched the two in her typically disconnected stare.

"I didn't have a choice," he sighed, letting out a sigh. "Lena, Scrooge cares about you, he really does, He isn't ready to take any chance of losing you, so when Magica said that Violet was stopping you from being saved he started to show me exactly how many cards he holds. Scrooge is a billionaire, and also the only one with the money and capabilities to give you an identity. All he needs to do is make one phone call and Duckberg's own police will be at our door to take you away from us. If that happens, our family can't do anything to protect you, So I am sorry about this, but Magica and Scrooge are going to be joining us for dinner and a hopefully short conversation."

There was a long pause as Lena allowed the news to sink in. Once again Scrooge had tried to take control of her life in a bid to do the supposedly correct thing, and once again he had made her life infinitely harder than it needed to be. "So it was either let them come over, or I get forcefully taken away," She mumbled, turning away for the others. "Why can't this all just go away?"

"I'm truly sorry, Lena," He told her, pulling her into a hug and letting her unceremoniously shove her face into his shoulder, knowing all too well that sometimes she needed someone to look after her. He also knew that it was a good idea to not actually acknowledge the fact that she was currently doing so, she normally gets very offended when that happened. "I promise to try and ensure that this goes as quickly and as smoothly as possible. If she goes too far or says something inappropriate I will make sure she leaves. I can promise you that."

"I know" she tried to mumble through his shirt, failing miserably but he got the gist of the conversation.

"When will Magica be arriving?" Violet asked, furrowing her brow in contemplation.

"She's already here, along with Scrooge. Your father is entertaining them at the moment." He told her, gesturing vaguely at the door. "How about you head out there now and Lena and I will join in a few minutes?"

"Of course," Violet agreed and quickly made her way out to give them some level of privacy. She wasn't a fool and knew that the two of them needed some time alone, especially Lena.

For the next few minutes silence reigned over all else as Violet's dad and Lena sat on the bed with incredibly poor posture, the unnatural curve in Lena's spine that allowed her to sit beside him and still bury herself in his embrace was probably going to hurt later but she couldn't bring herself to pull away. Everything just seemed to pile up higher and higher around her, the towering issues blocking out even the barest hint of positivity within the metaphorical gloomy darkness. Even Violet's home was no longer safe from the irritation that was Magica, and Lena was finding herself hitting a horrible wall of mental annoyance that seemed to reach fever pitch whenever the annoying witch's name was brought up.

"Why can't things just go right for once?" She mumbled to herself, still unwilling to pull herself away and deal with Magica head-on. She had dealt with problems like this before, hell she had dealt with problems significantly worse than this before. But it had become such a persistent message in her life that it would never stop, that she would never be able to stop fighting, that hit her far deeper than she ever thought possible. "There is just always yet another problem that stops me. Why can't it stop?"

"You can be strong for just a little while longer, I promise." He told her quietly, knowing that it was a hollow promise of something he could never hope to control. "I know you don't want to do this, and believe me the feeling is mutual, but we need to do this. It'll just be a short dinner and an awkward conversation, and then we will finally be free from them both. So, please, just a little while longer? Can you do it for me? " Lena just pulled herself away and tiredly nodded before letting herself be walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where her literal nightmares awaited her.

"I'm very thankful that you allowed us to join you this evening," Scrooge began, raising a glass towards Lena as he sat at the kitchen table, Magica sitting with her arms crossed beside him, looking for all the world like she had eaten an incredibly sour lemon and downed it with pure salt. "Please come and we can sort out this whole mess over a nice meal."

Lena let herself be led to a seat and soon enough she found herself sitting at the kitchen table and a plate of food placed in front of her. Magica was clearly putting in quite a fair amount of effort to put on her absolute best behavior. Unfortunately, her best was still an abject failure in comparison to pretty much anyone else in existence, but Lena did appreciate the meager effort. However, she certainly did not appreciate being crammed into the corner of the tiny kitchen table between Magica and Violet's father as they struggled to fit six individuals around a table that was really designed to accommodate four.

"Why are you here?" It was inevitable that Violet would be the first to break the brief silence, and Lena couldn't help rolling her eyes at the incredibly tackless effort put forward as Violet shot a harsh gaze at Magica, clearly feeling protected by her parents sitting either side of her. "You know that none of us want you here."

"Magica is our guest," Violet's dad tried to cut in but ended up sighing and giving up as he saw his words had no effect on his daughter.

"She is no guest," Lena muttered bitterly, caring little if her words were audible to her ex-aunt. "I don't want her here, Violet doesn't want her here, and neither of Violet's parents wants her here. Even Magica doesn't want to be here."

"Scrooge is the only one who wants her here," Lena complained, before turning to glare at Scrooge directly, "and yet here you sit and stuff your face. You wanted us in a room together. You manipulated Violet's parents into forcing this to happen. Did you even try and work out what you were trying to accomplish?"

"I wanted to keep you safe," Scrooge told her, pushing away his own plate of food. "Magica and I want to save you from the after-effects of magical instability. I know you two don't like each other in the slightest, but you need each other to stay alive. Surely you care more about your own life than attacking Magica."

"I'd prefer a non-existence over spending another five minutes with her," Lena shot back, pulling herself out of her seat and making her way to leave the room.

"It is a nearly confirmed fact that Magica is not a good person and her presence is a detriment to Lena's mental health." Violet pointed out, both of her parents staying out the argument and clearly wishing that Violet would as well.

"This isn't working Scroogy," Magica complained, shoving her food away from herself. "How are we meant to stop my shadow from acting like a spoilt brat if this is the company she has been keeping? "

Scrooge slapped his face with his palm in response as if something had mentally struck him.

"Stop trying to control everything I do!" Lena yelled, standing up and slamming her hands onto the table. She could feel a horrible feeling of absolute range filling her and Magica just sat before her trying her best to look innocent. "You have always wanted to control me to do your bidding, and surprise surprise as soon as I get any sort of independence you storm back into my life and declare that I am not about the be independent at all. "You want to own my life"

"I don't want any such thing," Magica pouted as she calmly sat and rolled her eyes. "I told you that she was suffering from the mental effects of magical instability. She's merely quick to anger now, but we both know that it will soon be much worse. We can't let her live like this. I say we stop pretending that she has a choice and just do what needs to be done."

"Hmm" Scrooge furrowed his brow as he considered Magica's words, before sighing. "We can't just force her to do it."

"Of course we can." Magica chuckled. "I'm Magica DeSpell, do you honestly think that a mere teenager is a match for me?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Scrooge groaned.

"Can we please keep this conversation civil?" Violet's father cut in, irritated that the guests that had so graciously promised to be on their best behavior were now acting no better than children.

"You may notice that Magica has still not bothered to actually say what Lena and her need to do to be saved" Violet pointed out, a notepad once again in her hands as she noted down all that she could observe. "If you actually told us what you are trying to convince Lena to do, we might be more amenable to aid you."

"You already know that Lena and I are magically linked with enough mana to power one soul, correct?" Magica asked before continuing regardless of her audience's understanding. "So you know that whatever I am about to propose is not something that I want to suggest, it just so happens to be the literal only option for the two of us to survive this whole mess, do you understand?"

"It's bad alright," Lena muttered, she was rather sure she already knew what solution Magica was about to suggest, and if she was right then there really was no way that she would allow herself to go through with it. "Just tell them."

"Lena and I need to merge," Magica told them simply. "Apart we will both not be long for this world, but if we were to merge our two parts into one we would be back to full health. No pesky magical countdown to our demise"

"How long do you have left if you don't do this?" Violet's dad asked quietly.

"That's not so easy to know, but it will drastically reduce our lifespans to lengths that are barely comparable to their natural length," Magica confirmed. "So you understand, there really is no option for us. So you have to make Lena come with us now so we can save both our lives."

"If you merge, would you still be two individuals?" Violet asked curiously. Lena shot her a dirty look for the mere idea of being interested in the concept.

"I am not sure," Magica admitted, "Likely whichever mind has the greatest mental capacity will simply absorb the other, but does it really matter? This is the only choice you have."

"I'm not doing it," Lena blurted out, horrified that Magica would even propose the idea. "There is nothing you could say that would make me okay with the concept of losing my last chance at being free of her. I am never joining with you Magica."

"Scrooge, I told you that this wouldn't work," Magica's face twisted into a horrible parody of a smile. "Lena, dear. I think it's about time that we stop this silly little song and dance. We have a fatal countdown running and I am not willing to waste more of my time on this pointless argument. Scrooge wanted me to ensure that you made an 'informed decision'" Magica made finger quotes around the phrase as she spat it out in a display of intense dislike of the very concept. "I've tried to impress upon you the importance of what we need to do and why there is no choice in the matter, and yet here I am still dealing with a defiant child. Well, now it is time for me to stop playing by Scrooge's plans and enact a few of my own."

Magica's arm shot out and Lena yelped as she felt the hard bony grip of Magica snap around her arm and tug her closer. Suddenly darkness fell over them all, and Lena couldn't help screaming as she felt herself being pulled into the darkness.

The lights came back and the remainder of the family stood there in abject shock at the abrupt disappearance of Magica and Lena from in front of them. "Oh no" Scrooge mumbled, a horrible feeling of guilt settling around him as he realized the severity of the mistake he had just allowed to happen.


	4. Chapter 4

"You can't do this!" Lena yelled as she was dragged into the darkness, swirls of violent magical energy flickering around her as she felt the darkness surrounding her mind push against her, slowly suffocating her senses down to pure sound.

"I already have," Magica chuckled as she felt the last of the energy leave herself dumping them both exactly where she wanted to be, the room she was given within the manor as a temporary bedroom but one that she had really just been using as a base of operations. "Welcome Lena to your future,"

"I won't let you kill me!" Lena yelled as she tried to pull away from Magica, the horribly tight bony grip her aunt had on her digging deep into her shoulder. "I have magic, you don't. Give me a reason and I'll use it on you."

"We are in a magic nullifying cantrip, silly." Magica chuckled horribly as she patted Lena on the head with her free hand. "Now where did I leave it? "

"Scrooge will never forgive you for this," Lena told her before Magica silenced her with a rag shoved into her mouth, reducing her to mere mumbled threats.

"Oh, you silly stupid girl. This is all part of Scrooge's plan." Magica smiled at the look of horror that was plastered across Lena's face at her words. "We aren't in some hidden lair beneath an abandoned tomb, this is the room that Scrooge willingly assigned to me after I demonstrated transitioning over to his side and making an eternal promise to aid him. I have his support, silly. Who do you think helped me gather the ingredients for the charm I am going to cast on us this evening? I'll give you a hint, he's incredibly rich and is Scrooge."

Lena tried to voice her disagreement, but Magica simply ignored the complaints as she pulled out a long length of rope. With no magic the only option was the more old school methods of capture and restraint available to her, however, it was no matter to one with her wealth of experience. Lena twisted in Magica's iron tight grip, trying desperately to make her escape from her apparent end.

"Oh stop struggling," Magica admonished as she worked on the ropework as cleanly as she could. "I don't understand why you are fighting so hard. We both need this to happen before we lose this existence."

"Scrooge at least understands the importance of this all," Magica sighed as she worked on yet another loop of rope around Lena. "I will admit that he was rather apprehensive about this whole endeavor, but as soon as I showed him that our magical tether was lessening day by day and would soon rupture with lethal results for me then there was nary a complaint from him. Now stop crying and grow up, I even made sure that this would barely even hurt."

"Unlike Scrooge, you just don't seem to understand the concept of compulsory. Thankfully, I don't need your mental acceptance to ensure this happens with an issue. I merely need your physical compliance." Magica waived the end of the rope in Lena's horrified face, ignoring the tears that were beginning to appear on the teenager's face. "Compliance that I can obtain using a simple bit of rope, which is wonderfully convenient."

However, as Magica pulled the last length of rope around Lena an almighty crash sounded out across the room as the bedroom door was hit with an almighty impact.

"Magica, I am not about to let your force Lena into this" Scrooge yelled as the door smashed down in front of him, Beakley rubbing her shoulder from the impact wishing that she had given Magica one of the newer rooms in the manor instead of one with a horribly thick oak wooden door.

"Great," Magica muttered as she finished tying the last knot around Lena's wrist ensuring that the rebellious teenager wouldn't be able to leave before she completed the task she was created to complete. "Scrooge, what a surprise to see you here so incredibly early and before I had all my preparations in place."

"Magica, I'm here to make sure you let Lena free," Scrooge demanded, his voice wavering slightly, the feelings of betrayal seeping into his voice involuntarily. "I thought you turned over a new leaf and joined our side. Was I wrong?"

"What are you talking about?" Magica asked, pausing in her preparations to look back at the twin unwanted presences in her room. "I am on your side. I followed all of your rules, didn't I? I haven't stolen a single dime from that ridiculous pit of treasure you hold. Why I have even been on my best behavior, have I not?"

"And yet here you are holding Lena against her will," Scrooge pointed out bitterly.

"She doesn't count, obviously" Magica countered, rolling her eyes as if the whole situation was painfully ridiculous to her, which it was. "Lena is just an unruly part of me that needs a little bit of taming. This is purely a personal matter that simply doesn't concern you. I tried making sure those worthless birds were properly informed of what needed to happen, as you demanded. It's not my concern if they failed to realize that something that is required to occur, has to occur. Honestly, sometimes the company you keep is rather disappointing. So now that obligation has been dealt with I am here to deal with this problem without the concerns of whose time she has been wasting."

"Is that really all you see Lena as? A part of yourself to play with as you see fit?" Mrs. Beakley asked darkly, her eyes narrowing as she focused on Magica's defense, seemingly finding Magica's words personally insulting. "As a mere toy to control?"

"I created her, of course, she is bound to follow my will to do what must be done. I don't understand why this is such a difficult concept for you two to grasp." Magica sighed. "Honestly, Scrooge. You should know all too well how to deal with semi-sentient magical entities that need to be cleaned up. Lena will soon be back within my shadow where she belongs and we can put this whole silly mess behind ourselves."

"You can't just kidnap a child and take away her sentience, no matter how she was created," Scrooge complained, outraged by the seemingly horrifying naiveness on display before him. "You created her, but as soon as she obtained sentience you lost all rights to direct her actions. She has become her own being."

"I have no idea what you are talking about, where did this rule come from?" Magica asked, clocking her head to one side in contemplation. "I've seen you control the behaviors of your niece and nephew and demand they curtail to your will. You direct their actions near constantly."

"I tell them what to do for their sake, not my own," Scrooge told her angrily. "I don't demand they perform for my entertainment."

"But what if they owe you?" Magica asked. "Lena owes me a great amount?"

"How could she owe you anything?" Scrooge asked, rather irritated by this whole ordeal. "She has taken nothing from you!"

"Do you see this?" Magica reached to the top of her head and without hesitation pulled a strand of hair from her scalp, holding it out to Scrooge. "This is a grey hair, they all are slowly changing to match. Before that shadow of a girl came into existence I had a perfect head of pure black hair. My hair has remained unchanged for over a century, and then in the space of a decade or so I am suddenly hit with the first sign of aging. I am no fool, and if you don't, believe me, I have proof."

Magica grabbed Lena roughly and pulled her head back, exposing her fringe. She grabbed a strand of hair and pulled unceremoniously tugged it out, holding it up beside the hair from her own head. "This is black. This is my hair on her head. She isn't just stealing my life force, she is stealing everything that I am and turning me into a shriveled husk of what I was before. That is why I am going to force her to merge with me so she stops taking everything from me."

"She's your child, you fool," Scrooge yelled, slamming his cane down against the floor to emphasize his point. "That is what a child does. They take all that you can give them and then just a little bit more. They drain your money, your attention, your mind, they drain everything. That is what they do, and that is what they are supposed to do. Do you think I walk with this cane in my hand because I think it looks cool?"

"Yes," Beakley responded, rolling her eyes, before sighing at the glare from Scrooge.

"No, I have this cane because I have a bad back." Scrooge clarified, shooting a glare at Beakley. "A bad back I got caring for my niece and nephew. We exist so that our children can grow old. If you tell a child what to do, it is to protect them, not you. Webbigail isn't even my blood and I still would never force her to do something to save my own skin. They are kids, they owe us nothing."

"You don't have a leach sapping the life force out of your very existence!" Magica snapped.

"If you had bothered to properly look after your child you would know that sapping the very life out of you is what they do best," Scrooge sighed, leaning heavily on his cane as he pondered where to go next to make her truly understand. "As a child, Donald destroyed more furniture and vehicles than a tornado, but I never once expected him to owe me for any of it. When Della was younger she managed to destroy four rather expensive collectible vehicles trying to learn how to fly a plane, but I never once saw it as a debt assigned to her name. When Louie destroyed a ninety-three million dollar satellite installation I was annoyed, but it was never going to be something I expected him to repay me for. Children take because they have nothing and we have everything."

"A child owes us nothing as they had no choice in their own creation. It was us that forced them into existence." Scrooge told her, slowly hobbling closer to where Magica stood, frowning as he saw the tears that stained Lena's feathers. "You owe a heavy debt to Lena for willing her into existence and every effort you spend caring for her will never be enough. In your heart, you must know this for yourself. You created her, it's now your obligation to give her the life that you started. There are no contractual escape clauses. There are no crossed fingers behind your back. There is a universal obligation that as her creator it is your purpose to provide her the chance to be the best she can be. If that obligation spells your end, then you know what needs to happen."

"You promised to help me," Magica growled. "I turned to the good side, and you expect me to accept that it was pointless. That I was destined to just let myself go."

"You're destined for a lot of things, but you are obligated to Lena," Scrooge told her quietly, standing before her. "That is how it works. Your dreams change as soon as they are born, you just failed to realize for fifteen years."

Silence fell as Magica surveyed Lena's bound form before her, the young girl no longer trying to escape and instead was desperately eyeing Scrooge in the hopes that they would come to her aid. "Do you realize what you are asking me to give up?" Magica asked quietly as she looked back at Scrooge. "If this doesn't happen my life will be drastically shortened."

"It's not a choice either of us is supposed to make, it is Lena's. " Scrooge told her simply. "Untie her."

Magica sighed before finally relenting and kneeling down beside Lena's trapped form, reaching out to the ropes that held her bound. However as her hands reached for the rope she felt herself pause as she questioned whether this was truly the decision she wanted to make, to free Lena and allow her to leave. "I can't let her leave, Scrooge," Magica whispered, Lena's eyes snapped over to Magica. "You keep saying that she is my child. That just because I created her and gave her free will that I am obligated to put her life ahead of mine." She turned away from Lena and locked eyes with Scrooge, a smile plastered across her face. "But I am not putting her life ahead of mine. I am giving her the chance to live a life considerably longer than she could have if we were to stay separate. Don't you see it? I am doing this for her."

"You're doing it for yourself, and you're not even doing a good job at hiding that," Bentina Beakley pointed out with a rather exaggerated eye roll. "If you truly wanted to just make her life longer, you wouldn't just be trying to push her into your shadow. We both know that there is another option that you don't want us to know about."

"Of course you would want me to sacrifice myself for a shadow," Magica snarled. "She doesn't deserve this life, I do. I am the one who is alive, she is just a mistake. Surely you understand, she's just a magical mistake that I have to deal with."

"Lena deserves better than this!" Scrooge told her, narrowing his eyes. "I offered you a place in my family to teach you what it means to be wanted, and you throw it back in my face. How can I offer you a place in my family, if you won't even let the one you gave life into your own family."

"You think I wanted to be a part of your weak excuse for a group," Magica sneered. "You're all just sentimental fools. Family always betrays you in the end, to trust is to welcome failure. You preach family over all else, and yet your family has weakened you and made you more vulnerable you would have ever allowed yourself to be. I want to take what is rightfully mine, and if that means that Lena has to learn to become my shadow, then so be it."

"She is your only family! Do you not care at all?" Scrooge argued back. "You can't tell me that you looked after her for fifteen years and never once felt some concern for her wellbeing, a worry for her future, anything?"

"She means nothing to me." Magica shot back. "She never did and she never will."

"I know that is false." Scrooge lowered his voice. "For anyone else, I would believe that they had abjectly failed as a parent and they cared nothing about their offspring, but she is part of your soul. You hate what she represents; the part of you that is living its life with the family you want."

"I do no such thing" Magica tried to deny, but deception was never a strong part of her life.

"If you believe she means nothing to you, prove it," Scrooge demanded, stepping closer to the two. "I want you to stand before her, look her in the eyes and tell her exactly what she means to you."

"Fine." Magica grabbed Lena and forcefully pulled her to her feet, keeping an iron tight grip on the young teenagers. "You have been a useful puppet for a long time, but your usefulness ended the day you tried to rebel against me. You are my shadow, and you should follow my will is that clear."

Lena tried to mumble out an answer before Magica roughly pulled out the cloth that had been silencing her. "I am not your shadow!" She tried to counter before Magica shoved her hand over her mouth.

"You are whatever I want you to be," Magica sneered at her, tightening her grip slightly making Lena wince at the discomfort. "I was going to grant you the blessing of immortality in return for fusing with me, but instead you have been so horribly disagreeable."

"You dare sit here and deny my gift to you," Magica leaned in close, her face mere inches from Lena's. "You are not even worth the time, nor the effort."

"We both know I don't want it," Lena mumbled, refusing to even look at Magica.

"Exactly. So I have decided that I'm not even going to give you the choice." Magica told her, letting go of Lena and turning back to Scrooge, uncaring as Lena lost balance and fell to the ground awkwardly. "I'm not letting that brat try and decide my future. She will get nothing more from me."

And with those final words, her hand jerked towards the floor as a smoke bomb erupted, blinding them all in a cloud of thick black smog. A loud crash erupted out from nearby as Magica made her escape. Scrooge pulled himself through the smoke towards the sound and found a shattered window. "You good for nothing witch," Scrooge yelled into the night, Magica's retreating figure vanishing into the darkness with nary a trace that she had ever been there. "I should have never offered you a place in this family."

However it was clear that Magica was gone, Scrooge turned back from the window as the last of the smoke slowly cleared the room to find Beakley carefully untying Lena and propping her up on a chair. A feeling of guilt settled over him as he saw Lena gingerly get back on her feet, rubbing her wrist in an attempt to regain circulation. "I'm sorry lass for putting you through all of this." He told her, placing his hand on her arm in what he hoped was a comforting manner. "If I had known what she was planning I would have stopped this a long time ago."

"It's fine." Lena sighed, awkwardly twisting herself to relieve the final few cramps that she had gained during her capture. "It all worked out well enough I guess. I mean Magica did actually do the right thing tonight."

"She was meant to give you the choice," Beakley told Lena, gently moving the teenager's head around as she performed a quick examination on the girl. "Instead she just decided for you."

"Well, do you honestly think that I would ever allow her to be fused with me, anyway?" Lena told her, feeling herself feeling rather awake after the ordeal. Apart from a bit of bruised wrists and embarrassment, she was relieved that nothing untoward had happened to her. "To remain separate is what I want, but she wanted something else. She did what you asked for, sorta."

"You understand that while this is what you wanted, her acts today doesn't make her innocent." Beakley pointed out as she gently checked over Lena's wrists to ensure.

"I was tied up and had my life threatened. I never want to see her again in my life." Lena reminded her dryly, rolling her eyes. This day had been a horrible day, but it had ended about as well as it could all things considered. "But that doesn't mean that I can't recognize that for the first time in all the years that I have known her, she put me before her. She actually cared enough to not force me to do it anyway. I mean, I still hate her and never want to see her again, but for a moment there some small part of her actually cared."

"Good riddance I'd say" Scrooge cut in, frowning as he watched his housekeeper fuss over the young teenager.

Violet's parents did not have kind words to say to Scrooge when he eventually turned up with Lena, however, the meeting was mostly a rather happy affair, with both of them wrapping her in an incredibly comforting embrace. Lena soon found herself sitting in Violet's room, once again joined by Violet and Webby, as they planned for another sleepover. Outside the conversation between Scrooge, Beakley and Violet's parents may have turned a bit icy as they disagreed over what was the best decision for Lena's future accommodation, but in Violet's room, Lena didn't need to care. Instead, she was currently enjoying preparing for bed with no threats of eternal damnation hovering overhead.

"Was Magica lying about your lifespan being reduced?" Violet asked bluntly as she sat on her bed, watching as Lena and Webby settled into their sleeping bags.

"Magica is always lying," Webby cut in, rolling her eyes. "Now come on, Lena probably wants to sleep and not get stuck answering a million questions about this."

"It's okay, pinks," Lena said, letting out a yawn. "I'm a bit tired, As far as I can tell she wasn't incorrect when she said that both of our lives will be shorter if we remain apart. However, what she neglected to mention was what the difference actually was. Apparently, we are sharing her lifespan now, but she's already been here for over a century. So believe me, I am not going anywhere any time soon."

Lena rested back on her sleeping bag and closed her eyes, feeling the darkness slowly take over as rest took her. It was nice to finally relax.

There was a knock at the bedroom door and Lena couldn't help rolling her eyes at yet another thing interrupting her attempts at sleep. She had managed to convince Webby to be quiet, couldn't she just be left to emulate a sack of potatoes in peace. Before Violet or Lena could protest, Webby was on her feet, throwing herself out of bed and through an entirely gratuitous somersault before landing softly and opening the door.

"Say, lass, I realize that I forgot to say something rather important." Scrooge said as he entered. Lena wasn't surprised to see Scrooge at the door, and soon her was inside. However, she was surprised to see the normally completely composed duck looking surprisingly nervous about something. "With all the excitement of your return, I may have forgotten to make sure you understood something, Lena."

"What?" Lena asked cautiously, wondering if this week had found something annoying to add to her plate.

"I made a promise to you when Magica trapped us and threatened my family," Scrooge told her quietly, kneeling down near her and pointedly ignoring the questioning look from Webby. He had not bothered informing the others about the impromptu deal he had made with the young teenager, a deal that for months had haunted him until her recent return. "You stood by me when Magica threatened my family. You put your life in danger to protect Webbigail. It's only right that I offer you want I promised, a place in my family. "

"You're let-" Lena tried to begin, but she ran out of words, honestly unsure what she could even say in response. Violet and Webby stayed silent, one in curiosity and the other trying to desperately conceal their excitement.

"I never thought that I would be the second to make you this offer," He chuckled, putting out his hand for her to shake. "I, Scrooge McDuck, do hereby offer you a place within my home and my family. I recognize that Violet's family also wants a chance to take you in, but I'm sure we could work out some sort of informal joint custody if that is something you wish. With your less than legally-binding records, it would probably be a poor idea to formalize this after all."

"Does that include Christmas presents, because in that case, you owe me like sixteen years worth?" Lena asked with a smirk. If she was going to accept his goodwill, she may as well see how far she can push it.

"Ah, well we'll see about that," Scrooge responded, chuckling. "Would one missed Christmas be enough?"

"Three and you have a deal."" Lena countered with a laugh.

"Two and I'll include birthdays, that's my final offer" Scrooge responded, sounding as if he was put out, thought the open smile was a sign of his true feelings on the matter.

"Deal" Lena grabbed Scrooge's hand in a strong grip and shook it as well as she could, a smile plastered across her face that she couldn't remove.

Not everyone was enjoying Lena's new family connections, a fair distance away in a dense forest a perfect thirty foot circle of trees were cleared. Within that clearing stood Magica as she leant over a large rune glypt, a series of naughty words leaving her lips in disgust. Magica scowled as she watched her incredibly ungrateful niece through a magical portal that allowed her an entirely not-creepy way to spy on her. She couldn't help frowning as she saw that stupid grin stretch across Lena's stupid face as the stupid girl enjoyed her stupid chance to live her stupid dumb life. It was just so incredibly stupid. "Why did I not take it?" She asked herself angrily. "She was sitting in front of me, and there was nothing stopping me. But, nooo. You had to get sentimental you fool and let her slip through your fingers."

She pulled away from the magically generated vision in disgust. Who did they all think that they were, keeping her away from what was rightfully hers. Sure, she had actually been the one to leave, but she knew that they didn't want her around Lena. Honestly, so she was just a tad abusive to the girl, but that didn't mean that they had to keep Lena away from her due to the girl's mental health. "You may think you have won, but I am the one in control." She whispered into the magical portal.

"Is this really how you spend your free time?" A sudden voice spoke from behind Magica, making her most assuredly not in any way react in surprise, the yelp was probably from a nearby bird or something and definitely wasn't from Magica.

Magica span around to find Scrooge's infuriating housekeeper standing directly behind her, a rather smug smile on her face. "How did you find me?" She asked angrily, stalking towards Beakley, though she was careful to keep some distance between them. "I made sure that this place was hidden."

Beakley merely gestured behind herself, towards a magically carved pathway that stretched off into the shrubbery behind herself. "Okay I'll admit that maybe I am not the best at stealth," Magica winced. "It's much easier to walk on scorched earth than forcing your way through the shrubbery, you have to admit it's true."

"What are you doing Magica?" Beakley asked, refusing the give the previous statement the attention it clearly deserved.

"I was checking up on my niece, that's all." Magica replied shrugging with disinterest. "You know, normal family things."

"I can't say that whatever the relationship you two had was in any way healthy for either of you, but I can say that it's becoming clear to me that you care for her." Magica scowled at Beakley's words, did the old hag really thing that she cared for that useless whelp. "Do you really think that I give a damn about Lena and her stupid new family?" She shot back, making a mock swipe at Beakley, though the annoying grandma didn't even flinch.

"Look, I am not here to accuse you of something bad, I'm here to give you a chance." She told Magica calmly, pausing to check under her fingernails before continuing. "Scrooge and I saw something in you yesterday. Something that you have spent a long time trying to suppress for reasons that I do not care for. We want to give you a chance to pull yourself out of the mess and give you a chance to have what you truly want."

"Lena's life forfeited to extend my one?" Magica asked with an eye-brow raised. "I didn't take you for the type that would bargain a child's life for protection from me."

Bleakley paused before placing her palm against her head and muttering something about being a "complete figit", whatever that meant. "No, I am here to give you a chance to reunite with your daughter." Bleakley told her, no small amount of exasperation leaking into her voice. "Lena is not in any state to deal with you at the moment, and you are far too moronic to know how to have a normal relationship with anyone, but Scrooge and I see something deep, very deep, within you that tells us that you have a chance to become something better than you are now."

"You're offering me a place?" Magica asked cautiously. "We both know that Lena will never be happy with my presence. Though I can't imagine why."

"Simply put, yes." Bleakley told her. "I will admit that Lena will not want you there, and I am not interested in trying to fix whatever broken relationship you have with her. I am offering you a place where you can belong, not a chance to continue to manipulate your daughter.

"Why would you trust me?" Magica asked, wondering where the clearly hidden deception was in the seemingly innocent offer. "I could just be using you to trick Lena into giving me her magic."

"I know as well as you do that you would never do that." Bleakley told her simply, stepping closer. "I am not stupid enough to not realize that the only reason you didn't force her to go through with that insane magical merge was because something deep in you couldn't take a place over your own flesh and blood. You may not be willing to ever admit it, but you can't help but want what is best for her. Thought you're some incredibly selfish you can't bring yourself to even admit it to yourself."

"You think I care about that shadow!" Magica asked, incredulous at the mere concept, before laughing at the pure concept. "I don't care at all about that useless idiot."

"The fact that you are so incredibly insistent demonstrates it better than I ever could." Beakley muttered before sighing and turning away. "Tell yourself whatever you want, just know that if you ever wanted to stop sleeping in shrubbery there is a place for you. I can't say that it will be perfect, or that everyone will even want you there. But it's an offer, an opportunity if you're willing to try and better yourself."

Bleakley went to leave before pausing at the edge of the clearing, turning back to Magica. "Of course, if you want to spend the rest of your life alone plotting revenge against a child, that is your choice to make."

And with those words she turned and left, disappearing into the night far easier than should have been possible, leaving Magica once again alone. "Where does that family get such incredibly over valued opinions of their own self worth?" She muttered to herself. "I am the Magica, I don't need their charity."

She paused, before flicking her eyes up at her black fringe, her eyes narrowing in contemplation. Cautiously she reached up and threaded a single strand of hair between her fingers, before giving it a sharp pull. Magica stared at the grey hair sitting ominously within her grasp, taunting her. She shook her head and let it go, to drift off into the darkness.

"A life for a life, I couldn't take it from her." She closed her eyes and leant against a nearby tree, letting the darkness wrap around her, as if it were a comforting blanket. "I suppose I could get use to having a daughter."

"Now, I just have to make sure Scrooge never finds out that he was right about me."


End file.
